The Assignee of this invention is also the applicant of a disclosure for a vehicle measurement system as described in the International Patent Application, namely PCT/GB92/01509, International Publication Number: WO 93/04381, Publication Date: Mar. 4, 1993 a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated herein as if fully set forth. Said Vehicle Measurement System utilizes acoustic pulses generated by emitters and detected by receivers. The emitters are typically mounted to the vehicle being measured and the receivers are arranged along a side of a beam which is positioned near the vehicle being measured. A microprocessor controls the emission of the pulses and measures the travel time of the pulses from the emitters to each of the receivers. The microprocessor also performs the necessary calculations for the measurements of the vehicle and controls the several output methods available to the operator of the vehicle measuring system.
An important feature of the vehicle measurement system disclosed in the above described application is the ability to operate in a garage environment with various air currents and temperature variations. That feature is facilitated by, among other things, placing the emitter as close to the receiver array as is practicable for the type of measurement point being made. The majority of measurement points made using the Applicant's disclosed system are located under the vehicle being measured. For purposes of measuring a point on the front suspension strut, the Applicant discloses an upper body coupler 78 that is attached to a ball-and-socket joint 96. Although convenient for the particular measurement described, other upper body points cannot be easily measured,
The operator of the vehicle measurement system must attach the upper body coupler to the point to be measured at one end of the coupler and position the other end of the coupler so that the emitter mounted on that second end is in usefull proximity to the receiver array on the beam. A lightweight easily positioned upper body coupler is preferable to a cage-type assembly for mounting an emitter or the beam with microphones above the underside of the vehicle.